


Tell Me Something Real

by mywritingiswack



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Fusion, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Previous Faven & Flarke, Raven Mentions, Raven/Wells implied, Wells Mentions, and she doesn't like telling people so she goes by harper m griffin, harper was adopted by the griffin's as a kid, listen...marper deserves more attention, lots of dealing with high school insecurities, so I'm doing it, there is one finished/recently updates bellarke ttihy au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-08-23 15:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16621931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mywritingiswack/pseuds/mywritingiswack
Summary: Monty Green has just started school at Polis High, a few weeks after everyone else started. He becomes fast friends with Jasper Jordan. But there's a girl, Harper Griffin. And Monty likes her. Like...really likes her. But she can't date until her sister, Clarke, can.Harper knows that her sister would never really *date* someone. Sure, there was Lexa, but that was never a real relationship. But she has her sights set on Finn Collins. He's popular. She's a freshman. She needs something to boost her social status.Bellamy & Clarke bicker a lot. But what happens when Finn Collins asks Bellamy to "woo Clarke" so he could date Harper?---Patrick-BellamyKat-ClarkeCameron-MontyBianca-HarperMichael-JasperMandella-OctaviaJoey-FinnChastity-EchoMr. Stratford-AbbyMs. Walters-Diyoza





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo there is only one finished/recently updated Bellarke 10 Things I Hate About You AU to my knowledge. So I decided to write one. Plus, Marper deserves some love, it's 2018, guys, why is Marper not a more popular side-pairing, at least. 
> 
> Anyway, here we go!

Monty's hands shook a little as he sat in his car, staring at the flow of students going in. Even when the bell rang, he sat there, unable to convince himself to walk the hallways of Polis High.

When someone knocked on his window, Monty jumped, having grown accustomed to the relative peace that closed windows and nerves had brought.

Rolling down the window, he readied himself for a disinterested look and instructions, but instead, he was greeted with a genuine smile and an enthusiastic introduction.

“I'm Jasper. You must be Monty. I'll be showing you around the hell that is Polis High. Come on!”

The guy- Jasper- bounded away, not looking back as if it never crossed his mind that Monty just might….not follow.

Monty grabbed his bag and hurried after him, bracing himself for the  _ new guy _ looks he had never been on the receiving end of.

Most of what Jasper showed him didn't interest him, besides the engineering lab.

He was, however, taking mental notes.

“Stay away from Bellamy Blake. His sister, too, if you know what's good for you,” Jasper explained quickly, glancing at the guy who was making out with some girl against the lockers.

Despite the voice telling him not to ask, to shut up, stay quiet, Monty's voice began, “Why?”

“Bellamy Blake is a, um, how do I say this? A dick. But never let him hear you say that. Rumor is, he once killed a man and was in juvie, and that’s why he was mysteriously missing at the beginning of the year from the halls we all say is our second home to teachers and administration.”

Monty was sure his eyes had grown to twice their original size, and he tried not to stare at the guy he could only assume was Bellamy.

“I...should go. Gotta go see Ms. Diyoza, get my final schedule and stuff,” he explained, Jasper simply nodding and turning to greet another student loudly.

Monty nearly got lost a few times, but once he found his way to the counselor's office, it was empty but for a pregnant woman typing quickly at her computer. He didn't want to interrupt whatever she was doing since it seemed important so he stood awkwardly for a few moments before she noticed him.

“You must be Monty,” she said. She didn’t smile, but there was something familiar about her, a calming presence surrounding her despite her neutral tone that, used by anyone else, would’ve seemed rude.

She handed him his schedule, doing a basic run-through of the best ways to get around and a lot of the details of the actual building that Jasper had conveniently left off in favor of lecturing Monty about the school dynamics.

Once Monty had trudged through the first half of his day, he looked around for Jasper, still the only person he knew. His eyes landed on a girl, and he couldn't help but stare at her. There was something captivating about the way she walked, and when she and her friend passed him, she just so happened to laugh, and Monty was not entirely convinced that she wasn't an angel. 

His gaze followed her, but when Jasper stepped in front of him, he was torn from the trance.

Jasper laughed and told him, “Dude, I should've warned you. Stay away from the Griffin sisters. Harper, who you were just staring at, is, first of all, not allowed to date, and second of all, way into Finn Collins, who is, frankly, worse than Blake. And Clarke, her older sister, is, well,  _ intense _ to say the least. I love a smart girl, but Clarke is...sometimes really  _ mean _ . Her and Bellamy Blake have actually talked, but I'm pretty sure this entire school tries to keep them away from each other. I'm not sure if they just wanna bang or if they genuinely hate each other, but their interactions are never pretty. And never good for anyone.”

******************************************

Harper hated Echo, to be truthful. But Echo was nice to her, and it seemed like everyone else thought she had a stick up her ass because Clarke had one up hers.

And Harper didn’t want to be a loner. She wanted friends. So she was as nice as she could be to everyone, she bought whatever would make her seem as approachable as possible. Not slutty, but not prude-ish either. Echo had the slutty part down and mastered.

There was not a day that went by that Echo didn’t set her eyes on a new guy, tearing hearts to shreds.

But Echo was popular which meant she had friends, or at least people who pretended to be her friends.

When she passed the new guy she’d been hearing whispers about, Echo didn’t give him a second glance, but Harper had to force her gaze to not stick to his like glue.

And then she saw  _ Finn. _ She didn’t particularly like him, but so far, he had been nothing but kind to her. He might’ve been a little straight-forward, but, yet again, he was popular and he seemed to like her.

So she smiled and nodded, pretending to pay rapt attention to his words, throwing in an occasional giggle to seem interested.

In reality, she was counting the seconds until she could believably leave.

_ Ten minutes, _ she reminded herself.

And so her mind began a timer, counting each second up to six hundred.

She held her breath as long as she could and then did her best to excuse herself, removing Finn’s hand from her where it rested on her thigh and extracting herself from the table.

She made her way to Latin, really the only class she like, because it was full of people who didn’t really care about what she looked like, what she said, as long as they could learn in peace.

Harper was early, as she always was, but usually, she’d get some time to herself as Mr. Kane made last-minute changes to his lesson plan and fiddled with the projector. This time, new guy was there, talking to Mr. Kane about who knows what.

She set down her backpack on the floor, subconsciously pulling down her already long dress.

Settling into her desk, she pulled out her notebook for the class, doodling at the margins of the new page, remembering Clarke teaching her to draw roses and tulips and forget-me-nots.

“Miss Griffin...Miss Griffin... _ Harper _ ,” Mr, Kane said, jolting her from her trance, an inquisitive look on her face.

“I was just wondering if you mind helping Mr. Green catch up. He’s a little behind our class, and since you have such good grades in this class, I thought you would be the perfect candidate. Would you mind?”

She glanced at the guy, his hands in his pocket and a shy smile on his face. She had a hard time believing that he needed anyone to tutor him.

Nonetheless, she agreed. “I’d love to. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Harper,” she kept her voice kind, not letting her curiosity be betrayed as she stuck her hand out to shake his.

It took him a second before he grabbed her hand, shaking it lightly. His smile seemed to brighten without really growing.

“I’m Monty.”

******************************************

Monty had scheduled a tutoring session with Harper for the next day during lunch in the library.

When he found himself in the same horrible parking spot the next day, staring at the school, he wondered not of how he would be perceived by the rest of the school, but rather by Harper.

Monty had crushes previously, or, rather,  _ a _ crush. Miller.

But this was a little more than a crush, he reluctantly admitted to himself.

His schedule wasn’t quite a routine yet, but it was approaching it.

Once he listened to, as Jasper so eloquently put it, ‘ _ the tea’ _ of the day, Monty made his way to his classes, only getting lost once...maybe twice.

He yet again floated through the first half of his day, silently thanking the universe that he had the first lunch of the day.

He was nervous, but not so nervous that he couldn’t pay attention in class. Never too nervous for that. If Monty was going to keep that scholarship from MIT he had been offered last year, he needed to pay attention in class. No matter the fact that his mind kept finding his way back to a certain girl he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about.

He made his way as fast as he could to the library for lunch, and yet she was already there.

Harper sat  _ on  _ the table, absentmindedly doodling on a piece of paper.

Quietly, he made his way to the table, dodging a couple of falling books and a heated argument between...Clarke and Bellamy.

He stopped a moment, staring at them until he was afraid that they would actually murder each other and maybe him if he was caught looking at them.

So as Clarke stormed away and Bellamy sat down on a chair, a smug smile lazily covering his features, Monty walked to where Harper was.

He smiled at her, sitting down and watching as she readjusted so she was still sitting on the table but now facing him.

They went through the basics, doing an overview, and Monty learned they had only covered one topic he didn’t know. In essence, it was more of a study session for them both, both of them easily slipping into new topics, that, however superficial, were still so much more interesting than Latin.

When the period came near to the end, Monty began to pack up, finishing before Harper did.

He watched the way an easy grin had slipped across her face as she read something off of her phone.

******************************************

[Big Sis, 5 Minutes Ago]  _ Bellamy Blake...is the single most….i n f u r i a t i n g person alive….i’m planning to murder him _

[Harperrrrr, 2 Minutes Ago]  _ You: Bellamy Blake...is single and the most.......i n f u r i a t i n g l y hot person alive….i’m gonna bang him _

Harper put down her phone and looked back at Monty, who was looking at her in a weird way. A good weird way, but a weird way nonetheless.

“Have you...have you ever been down to the gardens downtown? I’ve been meaning to check them out, and if you’ve never been we could go, um, we could, you could...with me?” he stammered, avoiding looking at her as he stumbled over his words.

Her smile grew bigger and she leaned across the table, whispering as if she was conspiring with him. “Monty Green, are you asking me out on a date?” Monty nodded and she continued, “I’d love to, but there’s just one problem...I’m not allowed to date until my sister is. And she’s never going to date someone. Like...ever.”

She could see him thinking, scrambling for ideas as words spilled out of his mouth that Harper didn’t really believe were meant to fill the air.

“I can help with that.”

As soon as he said those words, he seemed to regret them, but he didn't take them back, so Harper allowed herself to believe him.

“You can?”

He nodded and said, “Do you have any ideas of who she likes? Is she, um, gay? Or bi or something?”

“She's bi. And, she doesn't like anyone that I know of, but she had a thing with Lexa Atwood? Before she moved away. But Clarke's never had a relationship-relationship, y'know? If that helps? You really don't have to do this for me,” words flooded from Harper's mouth as her mind scrambled for things that Clarke  _ wouldn't _ kill her for telling someone who was a stranger to both of them.

Well, one of them.

Monty had a lopsided grin on his face that made her think he'd been hanging out with Jasper Jordan and he shrugged, getting up and walking away as the bell rang.

******************************************

Clarke was already in Lit Class, working on her annotations of  _ A Midsummer’s Night Dream  _ when Octavia slid into the seat next to her. With Bellamy right behind her.

She turned her glare to him. “What are you doing here? You don't even have this class.”

He smirked and replied, “Well,  _ Princess _ , I have a free period, and Pike needs help.”

She tried to ignore the shivers that horrid nickname coming from his mouth sent down her spine.

Octavia was watching this entire interaction with the most idiotic grin on her face, and Clarke stared at her.

She hissed, “Really?  _ No _ warning? You know I-”

“-Would very much like to be making out with him? Yeah, I know,” Octavia teased.

Clarke had gotten used to it by now, but even so, she couldn't help but think that she wouldn't exactly  _ mind _ making out with him.

But everyone else started filing in, and Octavia was entranced by the words of, as she put it, ‘the greatest writer to ever grace the world’.

How Bellamy Blake was related to Octavia in any way was a mystery that eluded her.

The class went by mostly without a hitch, everyone just discussing their different perceptions of the story and, most importantly, Finn was staying quiet.

Until they started talking about Helena and she heard a cough in the back, a vaguely covered ‘Slut’ somewhere in there.

The boys in the back started cracking up, and Clarke slowly turned towards them, anger bubbling up in her.

“ _ Excuse me? _ ” her voice was eerily calm as she kept her face neutral, and Finn noticed, beginning to cower under her gaze. “Slut? First of all, she was under the influence of Rohypnol, and second of all, that entire word really shows your complete and utter lack of understanding and appreciating of a woman’s ability to explore her sexuality without being berated for it, the same way men are allowed. And if your point is about her kind of, not really, cheating, then I don’t think you are in the best place to imply anything about that, considering your past.”

Finn stammered for words, eventually landing on, “Don’t be such a bitch, Clarke.”

Mouths gaped, and she nearly launched across her desk to literally strangle Finn but before she could, she heard a deep voice from the back.

“The princess is right, Collins. And, considering the fact that it seems like my sister and Clarke both look like they want to murder you, I’d suggest you shut up. Not to mention that if they did decide to murder you, I’d probably join in. There are quite a few ways to dispose of a body without leaving any evidence” Bellamy said, his demeanor calm as his feet rested on the table in the back, he himself reading a book.

Mr. Pike interrupted before Finn could reply. “Collins, to the principal. Griffin, to the counselor’s. We don’t want you punching anyone this early into the school year.”

Clarke’s eye twitched a little and she got up, careful not to make a scene of her walking out, but not able to resist storming out and to Ms. Diyoza’s office.

She didn’t bother knocking on the door, she simply threw her bag on the ground and collapsed onto the chair.

Without even looking up, she said, “Finn?”

“Finn,” Clarke replied, her anger slowing to simmer. When Diyoza didn’t say anything more, she added, “Sorry, did I interrupt your smut-writing time?”

Diyoza rolled her eyes and looked at her. “Yes, I am writing smut. I am pregnant and a school counselor, believe it or not, no one’s really lining up at my door. Did you want me to ask you for details? Because I already know them. Pike called ahead and let me know what was happening. Next time Finn calls you a bitch, maybe take it outside and clock him. Lord knows he deserves it.”

Clarke snorted a little at the last comment.

“You think you can refrain from lunging for anyone for the rest of the day, or would you rather sit here and watch me write all day?” she asked.

She watched as Clarke got up and grabbed her bag, heading to her next class since the bell rang a few minutes later.

******************************************

Bellamy finished up with grading some of the papers from Pike’s 9th graders. He left a few minutes before the bell rang so he could get ahead of the crowd, and if the hallways had been filled, he wouldn’t have noticed someone calling his name.

He turned to face whoever owned the voice.

Bellamy’s eyes nearly rolled out of his head when he saw who said his name.

“Whaddaya want, Collins?” he asked.

Finn walked up to him, faking confidence. “A little birdy told me that Harper isn’t allowed to date until Clarke is.”

Quirking an eyebrow, he inquired, “And what does that have to do with me?”

“Well...I was wondering if you would... _ woo _ Clarke so that I could date Harper.”

Bellamy barked out a laugh. “There are so many things wrong with that. First off, I would never in a million years date the Princess. And even if I wanted to, there is no way in hell I would ever let her little sister be in a relationship, or whatever your messed up definition of a relationship is, with you.”

He turned to leave when Finn added, “Even if I pay you?”

Bellamy ignored him, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking down the hall.

He got to Calculus early, so he waited outside the classroom, where, yet again, someone said his name.

“Collins, I swear, I will  _ tell _ Clarke what you’re...oh. New guy. Jasper. What do you guys want?”

The new guy and Jasper shared a look, and Jasper enthusiastically introduced the new guy.

“This is Monty!”

He asked, “Okay...is that all you wanted to talk to me about?”

Monty stepped forward a little, visibly swallowing as he sized up Bellamy. “Um, well, you know. Uh...Okay, so, Finn Collins asked you about getting Clarke to date you so he could date Harper? Well...what if I told you we were just using Finn so  _ I _ could date her. Harper, that is.”

Bellamy thought his words over for a moment, truly letting them sink in. “Damn, Monty. I knew Jasper could hold his own on planning schemes, but you don’t seem like the kind of guy who would do something like this.”

“What can I say? Spend just a few days with me and I can bring anyone over to the dark side,” Jasper explained, lightly punching Monty’s arm.

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, Clarke’s my sister’s friend. And this is nearly certainly gonna end badly.”

“Look, you don’t have to be in a committed relationship with her or anything, you just...you just have to take her out on a few dates. One or two, even.”

Bellamy mulled over it for a few minutes, shooting them a quick, “I’ll think about it,” before heading into class.

His teacher went over some formulae they’d learned yesterday, explaining them again for the test the next day. But Bellamy’s mind was somewhere else. 

_ Clarke. _

It’d just be cruel of him to do that to her. Sure he didn’t like her, but...the money didn’t hurt, did it? And Monty seemed like a good kid. And he would be pissing off Collins. All in one fell sweep.

Plus, it wasn’t like Clarke would actually like him like that. She  _ might _ go on one date with him, at that reluctantly. Her heart wouldn’t be broken. At least not by Bellamy. It didn’t hurt to make a half-assed attempt at trying to get her to go on something resembling a date with her.

He made his way to the courtyard for lunch when he noticed Collins at his locker.

When Finn saw him, Bellamy simply said, “I’ll do it.”

He repeated as much to Monty and Jasper when he saw them later that day.

_ And tomorrow it begins _ , his mind reminded him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke decides to go to a party. Which means Octavia and Harper are going, too. And since everyone else is there...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI I KNOW I'M HORRIBLE I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG
> 
> WARNING: a certain character does get drugged BUT nothing happens so just...consider yourself warned.
> 
> This also became a hell of a lot about me dealing with the toxic masculinity that has managed to weasel its way into high schools ACROSS THE WORLD!! So yeah.
> 
> Okay I'll stop now alsdkf;aldkf you guys have waited long enough for this.

The next morning, Bellamy made his way towards Clarke’s locker, where she was talking to Wells on the phone like every morning. She visibly rolled her eyes when she saw Bellamy and slammed her locker closed, walking away from him.

“Clarke! Wait up!” Bellamy called.

She frowned, hanging up after a quick goodbye.

“What do you want, Blake?” her tone wasn’t hostile, but it didn’t seem as if she was open for conversation either.

Bellamy’s mind scrambled. He really should have thought about what he was going to say to Clarke to convince her to go out on a date with him despite the fact that she hated him and he hated her...or at least pretended to.

She audibly sighed and flipped Bellamy off, beginning to turn around when Bellamy blurted out, “Don’t go to the party Saturday.”

Her expression immediately went from surprise to annoyance. “ _Excuse me_ ? You’re not _my_ brother. Far from it. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not - I’m not trying to assert dominance or whatever. Just…” His mind scrambled for an excuse to sound less like a misogynist. “Just. Octavia’s not supposed to go, and I’ve heard that she _is_ planning on going, but if you don’t go, neither will she…” That seemed plausible.

Clarke’s eyes narrowed before her expression melted into a saccharine sweet smile, and Bellamy knew he had succeeded. “Of course. I’m far more stubborn than Octavia could ever be and there is no way in hell I’m letting her convince me to go to a stupid party with her. Much less one _you_ will be at,” she spat out, leaving Bellamy perhaps slightly wounded.

He watched as she walked away, leaning his head against the cool metal of the lockers. “Why is everything so much harder with her?” he asked himself as he pushed away from the wall when the morning bell rang.

******************************************

Clarke could barely get through the day, considering the anger that threatened to boil over at any moment. She barely stopped herself from snapping at Pike when he made a comment about something stupidly small.

“What’d my brother do this time?” Octavia asked while they walked out of Pike’s room.

She simply grumbled, “Nothing. But that party. We’re going to it.”

“I’m sorry, _what_? Clarke, you swore that you would never go to a party...ever.”

“It’s a party at _Myles’_ house. Not like it’s gonna be some kind of rager,” Clarke retorted.

Octavia put her hands up in defeat. “Fine. I just want to make sure you won’t be complaining the entire time. We still on for Friday sleepover?”

She nodded and watched as Octavia walked off, stepping into the AP Bio classroom.

******************************************

“Mom!” Harper basically bounced into the house. “You know how you said I couldn’t go to parties unless Clarke went with me? Well...Clarke is going!” Harper jumped around a little while Abby watched with both adoration and exasperation in her eyes. “Can I please, please, _please_ go?”

Clarke watched, holding in laughter as she shrugged when her mother looked her way with an eyebrow raised. Harper began another round of pleas when finally Abby relented. “Okay, okay! You can go. But, you know the drill. No drinking, don’t take drinks from anyone, even friends, and be home by 11. And absolutely no funny business.”

Harper rolled her eyes at ‘funny business’ and ran up the stairs, yelling something about having to choose the perfect outfit for her party debut.

“Mom, if I’m not home, I’m staying at Octavia’s. And yeah, yeah, I know the rules, I know it’s a school night, whatever. Can I go now?”

Abby seemed like she wanted to ask more questions, no doubt curious about Clarke’s unexpected decision, but she didn’t ask any more questions.

******************************************

Harper could feel the sound waves vibrating through the ground even before the house was in sight. Her heart was beating. Myles had invited her to the party, but she hadn’t thought she was going to be able to _actually_ go. She didn’t even wait for Clarke to park before she dashed out of the car, squealing when she saw the people she was supposed to be friends with.

She didn’t miss the annoyed look on Clarke’s face, and she filed away her sadness for later.

Finn immediately looped an arm around Harper’s waist, whispering something in her ear that she didn’t pay attention to. She waved to a disgusted Clarke, trying not to be hurt at her sister’s lack of understanding for her situation.

He offered her a drink, uncomfortably close to her as she tried to decline as politely as she could.

“I have a test first period. Can’t exactly be hungover,” Harper said weakly, attempting to smile. She was usually so much better at hiding her disdain for him, but for some reason, tonight was different.

He leaned in further, and she barely suppressed a shudder. “Come on, at least some punch.” She could practically feel his lips on her ear, and she noticed Octavia, who seemed to be looking for someone.

Harper pulled away, smiling tightly and muttering, “Gotta go help Octavia. She’s probably looking for Clarke.” Finn, fortunately, didn’t seem to notice that anything was wrong.

“Octavia!” Harper called, slipping through the slowly crowding room.

“Oh, hey Harper! Have you seen Clarke?”

“Yeah, I saw her walk towards the kitchen, probably to wait for you.” Harper caught Octavia’s arm, who looked curiously back at Harper. “I can come with.” She awkwardly dropped Octavia’s arm, the both of them maneuvering through the halls.

She was keeping her head down, praying her hair was enough to pass her off as Clarke and not Harper, when Octavia said, “Hey, Jas.”

Harper’s head whipped up to see Jasper and Monty standing there, Jasper with a dopey grin on his face. Octavia’s face was uncharacteristically soft, nowhere near as animated as it usually was but showing clear affection nonetheless.

Monty waved a little, stepping a little closer. He didn’t, however, lean far too close, just close enough so that Harper could hear him.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were coming.” Monty had to yell a little, but he stayed right where he was, which allowed Harper to breathe a little.

She shrugged and smiled. “I wasn’t. But then my sister, Clarke, decided to come, and I thought I’d tag along. Myles had invited both of us since he’s part of this really tight group. We all moved here around the same time from Arkadia, about a hundred families, actually, and a lot of us were around the same age. We like to call ourselves The 100, actually, although I’m pretty sure there are technically only 99 of us. Hey, you’re from Arkadia originally, right? You make a hundred. I can finally call us The 100 with no reservations!”

Monty nudged her shoulder a little. “Yeah, guess you can Griffin.”

She bit her lip, trying to smile and work through the emotions that being referred to as _Griffin_ brought up.

Monty’s eyebrows furrowed together and he began to say something when over his shoulder she noticed Finn, his back turned towards them.

“Uh, I’m just gonna go. Gotta find my sister. It was nice to see you, Monty!”

She hurried into the kitchen and Octavia followed quickly.

Clarke immediately looked up from her phone. “Hey, O, Harp. What’s going on?”

“Nothing much,” Harper answered quickly, taking her phone out of her bag and getting a cup. “Just wanted some water.”

She grabbed her cup and walked back outside, sighing a little when Finn beckoned her over.

******************************************

Much of the party passed in relative peace, well, as much peace as a house full of teenagers could muster. That was until Bellamy showed up. Cheers from the boys shot up as red solo cups were raised into the air.

The cheering died down as quickly as it started, and instead of being sequestered by one of the guys, he instead made his way to Clarke, no doubt to berate her for coming to the party despite his request.

“Where’s Octavia?” Bellamy asked.

Clarke shrugged, pointedly not looking at him as she answered, “She and Jasper went to get a drink. Nonalcoholic, don’t worry.” She may have not been the kindest towards Bellamy most of the time, but she had a little sister, too, and there was no way in hell she would cause him undue worry about Octavia.

He simply nodded, not moving and leaning against the counter where Clarke was sitting. Even though the party was loud, Bellamy’s silence was what she really hung on. Clarke kept glancing over at him, and he seemed like he wasn’t going to move, nor was he attempting to start a conversation. And there was no way in hell Clarke was going to move. She was here first. Bellamy could move.

When Clarke snuck another glance at Bellamy, he looked at her, eyebrows raised and mouth settled into a grin. “Can’t keep your eyes off of me, Princess?”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “In your dreams.”

“Hm, maybe,” he muttered, making Clarke’s eyes widen and a blood rush to her cheeks.

Unwilling to let them return to an uncomfortable silence and overthink what he said, what he was _clearly joking about_ , she blurted out a question that had been resting at the back of her throat for years now. “Why do you still call me ‘Princess’? You might not like me, but you _know_ me. I’m not pampered or some shit. I get that I have tons of privileges, but I don’t think it’s fair to characterize me as...as a little girl who never has to work for anything.” Bellamy’s gaze was heavy on her own, and she clamped her mouth shut, picking up her bag. “Nevermind. I’m just gonna go find Octavia and Harper, see if we can leave. This was a bad idea.”

Bellamy’s hand lightly touched her wrist. “ _Clarke_ .” She turned around at the sound of his voice, schooling her expression. “You’re right, and I do know you. You’re not pampered or a brat, at least not anymore. Not after...It’s not something _bad_. It’s just what I call you. And what makes you think I don’t like you?”

She was baffled at Bellamy’s feigned ignorance. “Do you mean besides the fact that nearly _every_ time we talk, we fight?”

“Come on, Clarke. You’re the _only_ person in this school who is ready and willing to...literally fight me. Both physically and intellectually. Everyone needs a challenge once in a while.”

Clarke opened her mouth to respond when someone shouted, “Hey, Finn, guess who’s here!”

She whipped around to see Dax stalking behind them and Finn with Ontari and Echo on his arms.

“Hey, Clarke. Found some other guy to lead on?” Finn jerked his head towards Bellamy awkwardly, clearly trying to put up a brave front.

There was a hush in the noise, and people formed a circle around Clarke, Bellamy, and Finn. Clarke had long had a policy of ignoring Finn when he was doing this, purposely baiting her to try to get a rise out of her. She wasn’t the best about sticking to it, but this time there was no way in hell she was giving him the satisfaction of seeing her get angry.

“What, are you not gonna talk to me? Is it because I _hurt your feelings,_ little Clarkey?” he sneered, some of the guys in the crowd snickering at the joke, the way only dumbasses could.

Bellamy practically growled, moving closer towards her and biting out, “You know, Collins, maybe you want to reevaluate your position.”

“And the little princess needs her ever-so-faithful knight to save her...again.” Instead of him posturing, Dax and another one of Finn’s ‘friends’ stepped forward. Clarke quickly scanned the crowd, grateful that Harper and Octavia were nowhere to be seen. Bellamy laughed in a way that made Clarke smile triumphantly for some reason.

“Really? Can’t take care of your own business? You really are your father’s son.”

“At least I _have_ a father.” Finn smirked, panning his eyes over to Clarke, malice clearly in his eyes.

Bellamy’s muscles tightened and his fist clenched.

Despite Clarke’s denial of the fact, it still hurt. But Harper was here. And she wasn’t risking her getting arrested.

“Bellamy. He’s not worth the air he breathes, let alone the time and effort it would take to beat him up.” She stepped closer, stumbling a bit, and although it went unnoticed to anyone else, Bellamy’s arms shot up to steady her. “Let's just get out of here. I'll text Harper and Octavia.”

“No need. I texted them when Finn was trying to goad you into a fight. Octavia walked to Kane's house since Friday she's supposed to be over there anyway for the weekend. Monty or Jasper dropped off Harper at your house.” Clarke nodded along, feeling as if cotton was slowly filling her brain. It felt eerily like when she was administered anesthesia for her operation a few years back. “Clarke? Clarke...are you okay?”

“Oh -”

“Shut it, Collins,” Bellamy snarled and turned back towards her. “Come on, Princess.” He slid his arm around Clarke’s waist, and she was planning on protesting, but he was basically the only thing keeping her up.

He essentially carried her to his car, considering Clarke was nearly about to pass out. With any other guy, Clarke’s brain would be in fight or flight mode, but Bellamy never did make her feel unsafe.

She was in his backseat before she knew it, and she vaguely registered that the car was moving. Her mind was quickly jolted when she remembered, “My car.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll have Octavia ask Kane to grab it. She has a spare key to your car, right?”

Clarke nodded, putting her head back down because it was too heavy to hold up any longer and curling into herself as blackness overtook her.

******************************************

Bellamy was going to take her home, he was, but he remembered how much Mrs. Griffin tended to freak out when anything bad happened to her girls. And he was sure that the reason Clarke had passed out wasn’t _good._ Clarke was prone to spontaneous sleepovers with Octavia, anyway, so he figured if he just left her in Octavia’s room no one would be _too_ suspicious.

But the light in his mom’s room was on and there was a creaky floorboard right in front of it. And since he didn’t have to pass her door to get to his room but did to get to either the guest room or O’s room, Bellamy figured his room was his best bet. He could take the floor.

He opened his door as quietly as he could and gently laid her down on his bed, staring at her for a few moments before adjusting the pillow under her head and placing the blanket gently over her. He froze when she stirred, but she quickly settled back down, muttering something he couldn’t hear.

Bellamy tried his best to stay as quiet as he could while he grabbed an extra few blankets from the closet, but in the relative darkness of his room, he banged his toe into the side of his toe and cussed quite loudly.

There was shuffling from his mother’s room and then “Bellamy? You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah Mom! I’m fine. Just, uh, stubbed my toe. Go back to bed.”

He held his breath until he heard her door close and there were no more footsteps. Sighing, he put his pillow down on the ground and did his best to adjust into a comfortable position, checking every once in a while that Clarke’s breathing was still even and steady.

******************************************

Monty and Harper drove in relative silence. Jasper had to get home early so the driving-Harper-home was Monty’s responsibility. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he was hurt.

He really thought _she_ would like _him._ Hell, even Jasper had warned him about her. So he didn’t speak.

“Monty…” Harper began, but she quickly trailed off, and he knew she understood what was going on.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Harper. It’s fine. You’re not into me. Whatever.”

“No! No. It’s not...I just want to be...I’m not like Clarke. I can’t just be...perfect. The one thing I have is being _liked_ by people.”

Monty parked and stared out the windshield, waiting for her to get out.

“You don’t get it, Monty. You fit right in! And you don’t even have to try! You and Jasper are already friends, and Bellamy doesn’t _absolutely_ hate you. It took him four years to stop ignoring Jasper. _Four._ And you come here and he’s just...talking to you. I don’t...It’s _different_ for me.”

Monty sighed, a little annoyed. “How, Harper? How is it different? People don’t exactly put people down when they’re as pretty and...and blonde as you.”

She scoffed and shot back, “ _Exactly_. I’m pretty and blonde, and that is it. I’m not allowed to be anything else. And…”

“And _what_ , Harper! What the hell else is there besides the fact that you decided, _on your own_ , that you were going to fit into every stereotype associated with blonde girls? Because I can’t see anything else.”

It was a few seconds of heated silence before he heard, “My dad died. Because of me.”

His head whipped to look at her, seeing her picking at the fabric of the car seats, knees pulled up to her chest, making her look infinitely small compared to everything.

Her voice was even smaller as she said, “My birth name is Harper McIntyre. But I was adopted when I was five and Abby and Jake gave me the choice of keeping my last name and taking theirs, too, or just making it Harper M. Griffin. So I’m Harper M. Griffin, now. I was six when Jake died. I had just started calling him ‘Dad’. I was at soccer practice and it had to be canceled because of a freak rainstorm. So he had to come pick me up early. It was pouring, so he was speeding because he didn’t…” Harper hiccuped, pausing and wiping away a stray tear. “He didn’t want me to get a cold, so he was _speeding_ . And he was trying to pass a truck but the car skidded...is that a word? Skidded...it skidded and there was a hill and the car just...it just…My dad died. Because of me. And I’m not a Griffin. I’m never going to be a Griffin. Mom knows that. Clarke knows that. But no one else does. They know I’m adopted, but they all assume I’m still a _Griffin_. I look like them, why shouldn’t they? So if I act perfect, if I’m popular and liked by everyone...maybe everyone else will believe something no one who really knows me does. So I’m sorry, Monty, I really am.”

Harper unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, leaving Monty sitting there shocked and confused.

“Wait!” he called, jumping out of the car to follow her. “I’m sorry you had to lose your dad like that, Harper, but it wasn’t _your_ fault. Of course it wasn’t. And...I don’t know. From what you told me, it sounds like your dad believed you were a Griffin. He would’ve done the same thing for Clarke. Any parent would have. But...you don’t have to pretend. Jasper seems to really like you, the _real_ you. And I can’t speak for your mom or Clarke, but I’m sure that you’re their family, regardless of biology, nor do they blame you for Mr. Griffin’s death. And...and _I_ like you. I get it, that need to be liked and stuff, and how that sometimes makes you want to pretend. But I _like_ you. And if you still wanted to go to the gardens in downtown...I’d still like to go with you.”

Harper’s eyes were glistening, but a small smile was still on her face. She nodded and turned around, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Monty watched her walk inside, sighing and unsure whether he should smile or cry.

******************************************

Bellamy woke up when he heard a scream. He jumped up and looked at Clarke.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, worried.

“What’s wrong? What’s _wrong?_ What’s wrong is that I am in _your_ room in your bed right now and you’re fucking shirtless!” Clarke was practically screaming.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, exasperated. It was lucky his mom had an early shift today.  “You passed out in my car, and I know what your mom is like. So I brought you here. And I was going to leave you in Octavia’s room, but it’s past Mom’s room and she was awake, and I’d rather not have her asking questions about why I was carrying you into Octavia’s room. So I just let you sleep in here and I slept on the floor. _All night._ I promise, Princess. I didn’t...do anything.”

“Well I know _that_ . You’re Bellamy. But _still_ !” Clarke buried her face into the covers. “God my head hurts. _Shit_. School.” She groaned and sat back up. “You may have first period free, but I have AP Bio first. Mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Don’t worry, Princess. You still have a good half hour until school starts and you have some of your own clothes in Octavia’s room.” She furrowed her eyebrows and stared at him, and he simply shrugged in response. “I do her laundry sometimes...Well? Are you gonna get up? Because the clock isn’t stopping any time soon.”

“You’re infuriatingly efficient,” she grumbled, getting up and slamming his bedroom door after she walked out.

Bellamy chuckled and followed her out the door, going downstairs to cook something.

******************************************

It took Clarke about five minutes to change and fix her hair as best she could. She expected to be angry about being _drugged_ but really she was just tired. She rushed downstairs and thanked whatever higher power there was that all she needed was a pencil considering she had a test in every class that day. She froze when she saw Bellamy, who was _still shirtless,_ (not that she was affected in any way by the fact), cooking.

“You cook?” she blurted out.

He didn’t seem startled at all that she was there. “Yeah. Here.” Bellamy slid some pancakes and coffee her way and she stuffed the pancakes into her mouth and downed the coffee within two minutes.

“Okay, I’m ready. Are you ready? I need a ride. Unless you’re willing to give me your car, which I assume you’re not.”

Clarke noticed that somehow she was sitting on the counter and he was standing in front of her, one hand resting on the counter behind her to keep him propped up. She barely fought off her blush.

Bellamy lifted an eyebrow and finished off his own coffee, and it was only then that Clarke remembered that he had not actually eaten. “You should eat. It’s important.” He only shrugged and ran upstairs, thankfully not there to hear Clarke mutter, “Don’t know how you’re staying that hot...in shape without eating breakfast.”

It was only a moment before he was back, car keys in hand, ushering her out the door. She absolutely ignored him for the most part, until he asked, “Do you know who drugged you?”

“What? No. Of course I don’t _know_. But I have a guess.”

“I’m gonna kill him. I am _going_ to kill him. You should know, Collins may be a dead man walking, but he’s also trying to date your sister.”

“Wha-”

Bellamy cut her off before she could continue further. “I’m taking care of it. Like I said. Dead man walking. But you should probably talk to Harper about it.”

“Yeah...I...I will. And don’t kill Collins. He’d only win by sending you to jail, even if he died in the process.” The car was parked, so Clarke went to open the door before turning around and looking at him.

Bellamy gazed back until she spoke. “Thanks, Bell. For everything.”

Clarke quickly got out of the car and smiled a little. And then she saw Octavia, who had a ridiculously huge grin on her face. Before she even spoke, Clarke put up a finger.

“Don’t even start, Octavia.”

“But -”

“No!”

Octavia simply squealed and Clarke sighed.

She saw Bellamy here and there throughout the day, and he tried to speak to her, but for the most part, she ignored him. There was no way in hell she was giving Octavia _more_ stuff to tease her with. It was likely if she so much as spoke to him Octavia’s teasing would come back full force.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it! Let me know if you notice any typos or errors or such! And I always love hearing your guys' thoughts, so lmk what you thought! <3
> 
> Check me out on tumblr if you please, now [anne-shirley-blythe](https://anne-shirley-blythe.tumblr.com)!

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a set-up chapter, so hopefully, I can get another chapter out soon! Be warned, angst will come at some point. Then again, angst is kind of a given with me lmao.
> 
> I do skip some scenes, aka the scene where Monty tells Finn about Harper not being allowed to date until her sister is, just because like...it doesn't really end up being that important, and it's easy for me to just fill in "oh yeah, a little birdy" and have all of you assume that it's Monty who told him, y'know? Idk, anyways.
> 
> Check me out on Tumblr [@jordanjaspermcgreen](https://jordanjaspermcgreen.tumblr.com) if you want!
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3


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